Crock Pot Coq Au Vin For Two

RECIPE RATING:
HE SAID:  Good, but needs more salt and wine.
SHE SAID:  Same as above.

We promise, this looked better in person.

We've been wanting to try this Coq Au Vin recipe for a while now.  We used this recipe as a base but had to make a few alterations since our markets don't seem to carry baby portabella mushrooms and fresh herbs are expensive.  We also didn't realize we were almost out of red wine, so we used 1 cup instead.  Next time we may try this recipe found on WholeFoods' website.

Mmmm...bacon...who doesn't love bacon?  :-)  Well, other than vegetarians that is...even though there's almost no nutritional value in bacon.  You'll love the smell of this dish while it's cooking!  This is the first time we're cooking for frozen chicken in the crock pot which is suggested in the recipe, but the WholeFoods recipe as well as other recipes found on the internet suggest browning the bacon, chicken and veggies first to bring out the flavors.  Definitely trying that next time.

Definitely make sure you have 1 1/2 c. red wine for this recipe.  Our batch was good, but you could tell it was missing something and would have been a lot more flavorful.  We're making this again with the 1 1/2 c. red wine.

RECIPE:
Prep Time: 15 - 20 minutes
Cook Time: 8 hours on low (most recipes recommend not cooking this dish on high)
4 qt crock pot (because our 2 quart doesn't seem to boil very good unless we use 6 thighs or less)

6 to 8 frozen boneless skinless chicken thighs (depending on the size and how many pieces each person can eat)
6 slices of cooked and crumbled bacon (we used turkey)
4 baby portabella mushrooms, sliced (we used crimini since we couldn't get baby bellas)
1 c. baby carrots
1/2 red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t. black pepper
1/2 t. kosher salt
1/2 c. chicken broth
1 c. red wine
1 1/2 t. dried thyme

Before

Bake bacon, then crumble.  Place frozen chicken in crock pot.  Layer in all ingredients add the liquids last.  Cover and cook for 8 hours on low.  Halfway through you may want to quickly open your crock pot and use a spoon to push everything down into the liquid.

The recipe said to serve over pasta, which the male half of this couple would have loved, but we had leftover Japanese rice, so we had it over rice.

If you decide to use this recipe, change it to 1 1/2 c. red wine.  We used 7 pieces of chicken.  It was enough for the two of us, plus one leftover serving.